Giving up too soon

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Replies

  • Lost_Zen
    Lost_Zen Posts: 20
    Bump...
  • Bonny619
    Bonny619 Posts: 311 Member
    I think everyone should read this. It certainly helped me tonight.
  • Wakeup2014
    Wakeup2014 Posts: 22 Member
    One of the most amazing posts I've read here. Thank you!
  • stephe1987
    stephe1987 Posts: 406 Member
    Thanks for posting this.

    It's important to remember that MFP is more than just going on a diet, it's a lifestyle change. A lot of us have problems with food. Eating too much and not exercising enough. Not keeping track up how much we eat and we end up eating way too many calories. A lot of foods we like are very high in calories. But we need to recognize the problem and make positive changes in our lives. It does take some getting used to but the health is worth it. My back and knees feel better already and I still have quite a bit more to lose.
  • amflautist
    amflautist Posts: 895 Member
    Resonates. Especially the part about continuing to log for the rest of my life. Thank you, OP, for a beautifully written message.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • ChaplainHeavin
    ChaplainHeavin Posts: 426 Member
    A 19 year old friend on MFP posted today that she was ready to give up. She tired of counting calories and went so far as to say, "Recently I'm just thinking I'm gonna die in like 70 years time and who the hell cares about eating healthy all the time, I don't need to be the thinnest girl on the beach and I don't wanna waste my life eating 1200 calories every day...duh. Already squandered five years of my nineteen alive. Also I haven't weighed myself in like almost a month, and I need some curly fries."

    I responded to her post, but I believe that my response may be needed today for someone else who is thinking about giving up. Here is my advice to the teenage who doesn't realize what she is giving up.

    "I am 69 years old and have lived most of my life on the other side of the 'curly fries'.

    I spent my 20's in low 200's. I starved for one year in my mid-30's just to get to 170 pounds and immediately went back to eating like it didn't matter. So, I got up into the 240+ range and just kept growing, until I was in the 280's after age 50. I finally got up to 290 pounds and spent years in a wheelchair, because my knees could not bare my weight any longer.

    Sure...It doesn't matter, if you want to eat without concern for calories. You could be just like me in fewer years than you could imagine. Along with the food will come a horrible price. In your 20's, you may give going to the beach, because you won't want to let anyone see how fat you look in a swim suit. You will probably start making jokes about yourself and your weight to cover up the pain. You will begin to see yourself as "fat, ugly and unworthy of love". You will not care, if a man disrespect you, because you will have lost respect for yourself.

    That's how I wound up with an abusive husband that I didn't love. I thought, "Nobody wants me...fat Sue, so I might just as well marry him, a man I don't even love." 22 years later, I was divorced, alone and fatter than ever.

    Today, I weigh less than I did at age 19, because I lost more than 110 pounds in past 14 months. My health (not just my appearance and self esteem) was destroyed by carrying more 250+ for most of my life, because food was all I had to make me happy.

    You have to make your own choice right now. Do you really want to give up your life to food, before you have even had a chance to live it? That is just a few words of experience from someone who has lived a life squandered on 'thoughtless eating'...letting food be more important than life and real happiness.

    It is worth it. My health was destroyed by carrying more than 250+ for most of my life, because food was all I had to make me happy. You have to make your own choice. Do you really want to give up your life to food, before you have even had a chance to live it?

    That is just a few words of experience from someone who has lived a life squandered on 'thoughtless eating'...letting food be more important than life and real happiness. Stay strong, little sister. It is worth it." :flowerforyou:
    .

    Bumo
  • ChaplainHeavin
    ChaplainHeavin Posts: 426 Member
    I was asked to bring this post back up.

    I am glad that so many folks have found this post and the matching blog helpful to them.

    I work at a college campus. I wish I could bring you to work and speak One on one to some of the students and co-workers. Students who arrive as freshmen who have long surpassed the freshman 15 and have now reached the freshman 25 (that's 25 pounds gained in one semester). Men and women in their 20's, 30's and 40's who have tried every diet gimmick or miracle pill rather than learn to eat sensibly, practicing self-control and moderate exercise, such as walking and taking the stairs. I had one co-worker tell me, "You know, I used to make fun of you always walking around campus on your lunch break saying, 'That will never be me,' But after I had my heart attack I don't say those things anymore."

    I would like to suggest you bump this post every month. Who knows, you may just keep someone from giving up and throwing in the towel.
  • nerchk
    nerchk Posts: 136 Member
    i need to keep this post close.
  • egrusy
    egrusy Posts: 196 Member
    Beautifully said!
  • messiahs
    messiahs Posts: 40 Member
    This is so important.
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
    :flowerforyou:
  • zahid222
    zahid222 Posts: 233 Member
    Thank you!!!
    :happy:
  • psylvester1
    psylvester1 Posts: 44
    bump
  • traceywoody
    traceywoody Posts: 233 Member
    I add my thanks and appreciation for your post. We all need to read this when the "too hards" hit.
  • SweetMaryAngel
    SweetMaryAngel Posts: 36
    this is beautiful and so motivating. As a 19 year old I know how the girl feels to want to eat bad food. But luckily I've never had problems with my weight and just wanted to get more fit and a slimmer. It's still definitely a journey. there have been times when I've thought of quitting, but after seeing this I'm even more motivated!
  • royaldrea
    royaldrea Posts: 259 Member
    Thanks so much for this, this is beautiful :)
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    I need to read this every day! And I am a few years older than 19. Never give up the fight!
  • annieest21
    annieest21 Posts: 10 Member
    such amazing, inpirational words. I admire your honesty, determination and bravery to face your past
  • CindyMarcuzAdams
    CindyMarcuzAdams Posts: 4,007 Member
    Sue, you have been to hell and back. Hopefully your brilliant post will prevent some young person from going to hell too.
  • turkeybutt40
    turkeybutt40 Posts: 8 Member
    Great story! So true.You just gave me the motivation to stick with this.My life is worth it. Thanks
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    What an amazing post, full of love and support. I pray that many young people will read this and take heart, and save themselves a lifetime of pain and misery.

    +1

    Not to go off on a separate tangent but the biggest thing that bothers me here is people giving up because it "takes too long" and they can't get to their goal weight in 6 months or 1 year. That makes no sense to me.

    Why the huge sense of urgency? As I see it, a downward trend is all you really need to lose weight and getting healthier should be a lifelong process with no end date. I don't really care if I stay within a 10 lb range for the rest of the year. Or longer.
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    Wonderful post!! Well written!! Thank you so much for sharing your story! And a BIG CONGRATS on turning your life around!!!!!

    To someone 19 years old they may see someone who is in their 50s, 60s, 70s as just old. Well let me tell you. Life is so worth living even at 50, 60 , 70 plus!!! There is still so much love and joy and happiness to be found! Well you reach that ripe old age:wink: You will appreciate the wonderful things you did for your health!!
  • amberj32
    amberj32 Posts: 663 Member
    Just saw this post and I love it! Perfect response. I was young and reckless with my food once and now I'm paying for it. I just kept saying "Oh, I will worry about it later or when it happens". Now I'm 39, overweight and was just diagnosed a couple months ago with T2 diabetes. Not so fun anymore.
  • xGymBunny
    xGymBunny Posts: 7
    This is SO important for everyone to read! So beautifully written too. I have thought about giving up, and I've only been committed to this for 4 months. Shameful, I know. But I look at all of you who are succeeding on a daily basis, and I prefer to thrive like you guys...

    Thank you for this.
    It's not shameful, everyone makes mistakes and the point is that you're actually sticking to it. Good job. :flowerforyou:
  • Hanfordrose
    Hanfordrose Posts: 688 Member
    I was so surprised to see this post had been revived by several folks in the past week. New friend requests mentioned this old post of mine and brought me back for a look at the comments.

    I want to add a couple of things in response to some added comments.

    MFP is not just a quick fix, where you come for a month or two and suddenly drop a ton of weight...never to return again. The truth is more painful. I joined MFP in December 2012. It took a year and a half to get to where I am today...and I am still logging my food and happily still losing weight; but NOT AS FAST as I did in those first few month. The closer I get to a 'normal weight for my old body, the fewer pounds come off each month and PLATEAU TIMES ARE LASTING LONG.

    I was on a plateau for 2 month recently. I thought that it would never end, but I did not give up. I stuck to my calorie limit and logged in every day. Now, I am losing weight again...a couple of pounds per month...NOT per day or per week. That's perfecting okay, because the weight is coming off...NOT GOING BACK ON. That is what counts.

    I will be 70 in February of 2015, and I may still be logging on to MFP when I am 80, if God grants me more years. With my new weight, I no longer feel the threat of phlebitis, diabetes, strokes and heart attacks which had been waiting to take me just 2 years ago. As my hubbie is so quick to point out...I am "half the woman" I used to be. :wink:
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,371 Member
    bump
  • amy_lynn007
    amy_lynn007 Posts: 48 Member
    Thank you
  • vegannlg
    vegannlg Posts: 170 Member
    Loved reading this thread. Exactly what I needed, and I'm sure so many others, too. Thank you.

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